Today, I went to Africa (7 Feb 2010)

There is lots of joking (and some serious belief ) that Cape Town is not “real Africa” and even some that South Africa is not “real Africa”. Well, I went to a part of Cape Town today that I think was definitely real Africa. I went to Khayelitsha as an invited guest of one of the Rotarians (Gavin, President of my host club). Khayelitsha is a township on the outer edge of Cape Town. I’ve read that it is the largest township in the entire country (of course this depends on the statistics and definitions used). The estimated population is around 2 million people. The Rotary club supports a creche (French for preschool) in the township. The woman who runs the creche, Christine, invited us to church with her on Sunday (7 Feb). I didn’t know what to expect, but I was very excited to get out into the townships this early in my stay here. I was glad to be exposed to a real picture of the way that half (or more) of the population of Cape Town lives. I am always humbled by these experiences and appreciate the opportunity to be exposed to a picture of a truly different lifestyle. Apparently, many people who live in Cape Town rarely if ever go into the townships. There is an intense fear about the safety in the townships and the levels of crime. I can honestly say that I didn’t feel unsafe at all the entire time that I was there (of course, I was there in the day time with 2 other students and an older man with a host that lives in the area). I think this fear adds to much of the separation and hesitancy to go into the townships.

Gavin picked me up and then picked up two other students. The two boys are on Rotary exchange programs from France and Italy. We arrived, after some confusing directions and a non-working gps, at Christine’s house. We went together to the church. When we arrived, I was surprised to see a structure that looked much more like a shack than a proper building that was the church we would be attending that day. There were probably between 30 and 40 people there, including children. I was invited to sit with some of the older women and the men that I went with sat in a separate section. Worship started with some Xhosa (most common language spoken in the township) hymns that I obviously couldn’t understand but enjoyed trying to sing anyway. The women next to me had hymn books that they showed me so that I could follow along and try to sound out the words. They were quite happy that I was at least trying to sing along and participate in the worship. There were no formal instruments leading the worship, but some people had pads that helped with clapping and keeping rhythm. One woman used what appeared to be a metal paper towel holder and a butter knife to make a bell-like noise during the singing. It was a truly unique experience. There were several songs and some prayer. After quite a while of worship and prayer, the pastor came up to speak. He introduced the visitors then called for the offering. I was quite impressed that he gave his sermon both in English and Xhosa. I am not sure whether he normally says anything in English or if he did it on account of the guests. He also gave the book and verse for several passages that we would be reading and because I had my Bible, I was able to follow along quite well. He even asked me to read a passage aloud in English to the rest of the congregation. I felt honored to be included in the service. I found the entire congregation very welcoming, even more so than most churches I have ever been to.

I had quite a good experience at the church. Following the service, several people wanted to take pictures with us and these are what you see above. As happens in any church, many people wanted to hang around and chat with one another too. After chatting a bit, the other students and I walked outside where there was a large group of kids walking past the church and staring at us. I’m sure we looked a bit out of place to these kids. I waved at them and they all smiled and giggled. I motioned for one of the curious girls to come over and then the whole group came over. Before we knew it the boys and I were picking them up and hugging them and playing games and lots of fun things. I really enjoyed our impromptu visit with these beautiful children.

After church, we went back to Christine’s home and had lunch that Gavin brought for everyone. For a second I almost thought that I was at home because he had brought KFC and Coca cola for everyone to have for lunch…. Delicious! After lunch, we visited the crèche that Christine runs and talked about some of Rotary’s plans for adding two more buildings for classrooms. There is currently only one classroom building (one room) and there are over 70 students attending. I look forward to helping with this project and hopefully volunteering at the crèche with the students.

I really enjoyed this experience and was glad to have my eyes opened to the way that so many people live. I have added some photos above of the township and the makeshift shack settlements that large families live in. Gavin and Christine explained that many of the shacks are on government owned land and many of the people in this area are essentially squatters. These people come from all over the country and other parts of Africa in search of some economic gain, many don’t find it. Christine explained about the difficulty in getting tuition for students in the crèche (only 50 rand per month, or less than 7 dollars) because many parents are not working and cannot find work. Khayelitsha is quite an interesting and complex area that I hope to visit and learn much more about in my time here.